The Top Housing Markets to Watch in 2018

As of June 25, 2018, we’ve made some changes to the way our mortgage approvals work. You can read more about our Power Buyer ProcessTM.

Housing prices are rising at quite a rate across most of the country, but there’s certainly no denying that prices are higher than in some areas than others. Where are the places with the highest demand for real estate this year?

We decided to do a roundup of the predictions of some of the biggest analysts in the real estate market along with some of our own data to try to determine where the housing market is downright hot.

If you’re working to own a home for the first time or make a big move soon, maybe you’ll figure out where you want to buy. If you’re a current homeowner in one of these areas, take a second to celebrate over all that equity you’re gaining. In addition to increased appraisal values at the time of a sale, you can turn more of that equity into cash.

We’ll be looking for commonalities and the cities below are in no particular order. Instead, we’ve tried to break things down by region.

Silicon Valley: San Francisco and San Jose

Zillow did its rankings based on average household income, projected rising home values and job openings. San Jose and San Francisco rank right at the top of the list. San Jose home values are projected to rise 8.9% in the next year, eclipsing by far every other city in Zillow’s top 10.

Home values out West have been as high as any other region in the country, but here in Silicon Valley, bolstered by high-paying tech jobs, property values almost seem to be in another stratosphere altogether.

Our Quicken Loans data also shows that San Francisco and San Jose both have markets that are very underestimated by homeowners. Average appraisals are coming in more than 2% higher than expectations.

Home Values the Size of Texas

Everything’s just a little bit bigger in Texas, and home values are no exception. Both Austin and Dallas make the Zillow top 10 with projected home value increases of 3.3% and 4.7%, respectively. Dallas has over 140,000 job openings as well.

Dallas also makes the list of top housing markets according to the National Association of REALTORS®, which compiled its list based on sales increases and price gains.

Finally, Dallas homeowners have the most underestimated property values of anyone in the most recent Home Price Perception Index numbers from Quicken Loans for January, with appraisals coming in 2.83% higher than homeowner estimates.

On the Trulia list, Austin and Dallas are joined by El Paso and San Antonio. San Antonio is known for its River Walk, while El Paso has a major state university that attracts a lot of young people.

Midwestern Movers and Shakers

Trulia has many Midwestern cities to keep an eye on in the next year or so. Grand Rapids, Michigan is at the very top of the heap. Employment in the area is up 2.5% year-over-year, according to Trulia. The median home price is still very affordable at $163,750, and there’s a thriving art scene. A bevy of local breweries makes it a good city to get a beer in as well, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Also making the Trulia list is Columbus, Ohio where home prices are at a 12-year high, but still only average $159,900. There have been plenty of projects around urban planning and park spaces, as well as many great restaurants and shops, according to Trulia.

Madison, Wisconsin is in the next Midwestern city on the list. Trulia says the city has won accolades for being the most walkable and bike friendly, as well as environmentally friendly. It’s also home to the Badgers of the University of Wisconsin.

Rounding out the Midwestern portion of the list is Cincinnati. It’s within spitting distance of Kentucky and Indiana, making the Cincinnati region attractive for many who are employed in these areas. Some of the local attractions include Findlay Market and the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.

Southern Charm

In the Southeast, one constant that comes up on several of these lists is the Raleigh region, joining Charlotte. Many companies in the financial sector have a presence in Charlotte. As for Raleigh, this region is right in the middle of the research triangle with several big universities around. It also has high job growth and a low vacancy rate.

The National Association of REALTORS® also highlights Deltona and Lakeland, Florida. In both cases, in addition to weather that generally can’t be beat, it’s all about the location. Deltona is 30 minutes from Orlando and Daytona Beach. Its economy is expected to grow 8.3% in the next year in the area. As this happens, prices are expected to increase 6%. Lakeland is one hour southwest of Orlando and 40 minutes outside Tampa. Prices are expected to increase about 7% in the next year, but are pretty affordable at an average of $180,000. Lakeland is also where my hometown Detroit Tigers do Spring Training, and they have a local minor-league affiliate.

Finally, Nashville makes several lists of top cities. According to Zillow, projected price appreciation is 3.8% this year. Realtor.com puts the number much higher, at 7.7%. I was there a couple of years ago, and it’s striking just how much building was going on in the city. Business appears to be booming.

According to Trulia, Nashville has the strongest job growth in country, up 3.1% from last year. There’s also always something going on. It’s the music city, and you can hear a live performance in nearly every restaurant.

Viva Las Vegas

If there’s one region that seems underrepresented on the list of housing markets to watch in 2018, it’s the Southwest. However, if you’re looking for a new place to locate, you could do worse than to roll the dice on Las Vegas.

Realtor.com predicts that prices will only rise along with sales, at 6.9% and 4.9%, respectively. Part of the attraction for this is that Las Vegas homes are still lower-priced than many of their counterparts in other metro areas in the West, affording a lower cost of living. That said, you may have to work at finding the home you want. Part of what’s driving prices up is a lack of inventory.

Home prices have still been trending up, so even if your area wasn’t mentioned, you may want to check out your home value for a pleasant surprise. If you’re looking to buy a home soon, you can get a preapproval through Rocket Mortgage® by Quicken Loans. One of our Home Loan Experts would also be happy to talk to you if you give us a call at (800) 785-4788.

If you have questions for us or want to share a city on the rise, you can leave one in the comments below.

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This Post Has 6 Comments

Kevin, I recall back during the housing bust of 2007 (? Or 2008?) there were all these banks holding onto so many foreclosures and homes where people just walked away. They said it would take at least 10 years for all the bank owned inventory to be absorbed. So now in 2018, is that where we are? Is that why some areas have “low inventory” now? I don’t really see many boarded up homes, but I live in Dallas, TX. Have the banks unloaded all their properties?
Am I the only one wondering about this, because I haven’t seen the question being asked anywhere.
Thanks ,

That’s a good question. In many cases, banks and other lenders get rid of homes for below market value prices because otherwise there’s a certain maintenance cost that goes along with holding on to that home for a number of years. For this reason, all of those properties have probably been sold at this point and now that the economy is doing better, builders haven’t been able to move fast enough at this point to keep up with demand.

This article came up when I clicked on the link for the “Room by Room natural cleaning guide” from the June 28, 2017 Zing blog. Can you please fix the link and/or send me the link to the cleaning guide as I saved it to read and refer to it later. Thank you.

No problem! Here’s a link to the article. Did you click through from an email? We had a problem with some of our old emails that has been fixed subsequently, but that particular article sounds like it’s from a while ago. Let me know.